The Theophany and Healing

“And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truthfulness of His word. O Christ our God, who hast revealed Thyself and hast enlightened the world, glory to Thee!”

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. (Mt 9:12)

The Feast of the Theophany of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ brings greater understanding of God’s encounter with His Chosen People to reveal to them the full meaning of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. At the time, God’s words were in the words of St. Paul (1 Cor 13:12) seen “dimly”, by the Old Testament Patriarchs, Prophets and even those surrounding the birth and early life of Christ. The significance of the great feast of the Nativity was ill understood by the participants. Mary, the Theotokos, the Mother of God, had little understanding of her role. Her free will response by God’s grace to respond to His request for to bear His Son was on a human level, a blind act of trust. As St. Luke records: “And the angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. For with God nothing will be impossible.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’” (Lk 1 35, 37-38)

We know that Our Lord was to become the physician and healer of soul and body. The Theophany feast, the zenith of the Nativity Season, gives us the first revelation of who is the healer of the world: “And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.” (Mt 4:23). Jesus, “…who was born in a cavern and lay in a manger for our salvation …”[i] was as the Theophany Troparian proclaims: “When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest! For the voice of the Father bare witness to Thee, and called Thee His beloved Son! And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truthfulness of His word. O Christ our God, who hast revealed Thyself and hast enlightened the world, glory to Thee!”

The dim understanding of the Messiah before the Theophany

Before the Theophany, the comprehension of the meaning of God’s contact with mankind was tenebrous. The ancient one’s understanding of God’s words could be conceived as firm, but comprehension of His promises obscure. St. Gregory Palamas makes this clear: “ He [the Father] made it plain that all those other things spoken earlier through the prophets, the giving of laws, the promises, the granting of sonship, were imperfect, and were neither pronounced nor accomplished in accordance with what God willed beforehand. Rather, they looked towards this present fulfillment, and through what has now been accomplished they too have been brought to perfection.” Let us explore some of the Old Testament promises and see how they can be more fully understood in the light of the Son of God, our true Physician.

The promise of Wisdom

In the Book of Sirach we read: “From the mouth of the Most High I came forth, and mistlike covered the earth. In the highest heavens did I dwell.” (Sirach 24:3-4) The full meaning of wisdom would not be glimpsed until St. Paul told the Corinthians: “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; (1Cor 1:30). We could consider Wisdom, begotten of the Father, as the Person of the Son, Jesus Christ, who is our wisdom. Wisdom guides the breath of His power. The word Jesus is the manifestation of wisdom both eternally, in the creation of the world and in everything He is sent to accomplish. As Solomon tells us “Wisdom stretches out from one end of the earth to the other.” (Wis 8:1).

Wisdom as a human attribute is the foundation of all healing virtue. But most importantly it is, as St. Paul tells us, a gift of the Holy Spirit: “To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom …” (1Cor 12:8) It is not so much knowledge as it is the human prudence inspired by God as how to live the life of holiness. The ultimate root of wisdom is the fear of God. When the angels at Our Lord’s birth proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!” [ii] they were proclaiming the fear (awesomeness) of God. Men of ‘good will’, are those who manifest this wisdom and live a life of holiness, a life where the Christ Child is born in them, mind body and spirit, which ultimately leads to the healing of body, mind and spirit. The true meaning of who the healing Christ Child as God, would be revealed at the Theophany.

Christ, the promise of the Covenant

God, the Father made a covenant with His Chosen People. The writer of Exodus (3:2) records God’s appearance to Moses: “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.” God’s message of deliverance was quite specific. God told Moses: “I have come down to deliver them [His Chosen People] out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” We could consider the deliverance of God’s people from the yoke of Pharaoh to pre-figure redemption of the People of the New Covenant from the yoke of the evil one. Moses was told by God: “Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Ex 19: 5-6). But God’s work of redemption was not to be limited to this concrete deliverance. It was to be a deliverance from sin and death universally open to all mankind. Jesus, is born to redeem and heal us all. Christ the Ruler would rule over the new law or covenant with His people.

The promise: rulers shall be silent nations shall have recourse

Isaiah the Prophet foretold: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord… In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, (Is 11:1-2, 10)…[and] … so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand.” (Is 52:15). Although nebulous to our forefathers of the Old Covenant, it is the Christ, God’s Son, one of the Trinity as revealed in the Theophany Feast, who is the new branch. Christ as physician and healer will extend beyond individuals but include nations as well. We too, as the body of Christ are to be the extension of this healing. We are the banner around which the world should surround and be the unifying principle of all nations. The insignia of the Cross rests atop the manger of Christ, the newborn King. By our wisdom, prudence, leading to our holiness, with Christ as our Ruler we too can be shoots of the Root of Jesse.

The promise of the key to the kingdom

Again the Prophet Isaiah (22:22) tells us: “And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” For the ancient Jews the six pointed star was the symbol of this key and shield of David. (Parsch, (1962). For the ancient Jews it was a sign of the promised Messiah. At the Nativity Feast we can see it as the Star of Bethlehem. The Theophany Feast now leads us to the understanding that the key is the key of authority. David’s key of authority is passed to Christ in His birth, who in turn passed it to His Church. As we are members of Christ’s Body the Church, we have the power by God’s grace to open ourselves to Him, be healed by His grace, shut out Satan and have open to us the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The promise of Dayspring: Life Eternal

In the Wisdom of Solomon (7:26) we read: “For she [Wisdom-God] is the radiance of eternal light.” The fullness of the Wisdom was not known by those before Christ. It was God’s voice and the appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove at the Theophany which enlightened the world. It is this illumination that would allow St. Paul to open his epistle to the Hebrews (1:1-2) with this message: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” It is in this context, the words of the priest Simeon, whom the Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus presenting Him back to His Father in the temple can be understood:

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.” (Lk 2: 29-32)

With the birth of Christ we have a rising sun that heals us by dispersing spiritual darkness and conquering death. This is spoken of so eloquently by the aging priest Zechariah, the father of the great Prophet and Fore-runner of Christ, the Baptist John who said: “…through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Lk 1: 78-79).

Do we give life, light, warmth, joy peace and health in our lives? Do we penetrate, darkness, the dark cellars of the world wet with its rottenness? As members of Christ’s Body, the Church, who like Christ, have by our baptism “put on Christ” [iii] must have His light shine on and reflect off us to all mankind surrounding us (Morelli, 2007). As St. Theophylact (2004) tells us: “He arouse like the sun from their midst, and those who are wise have Him as their boast.”

The promise of the King of the Gentiles and the desired of all

The conversion of pagans is mentioned in the psalms. King David as the obvious prefigure of Christ has the Lord God say to him: “You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Ps 2: 7-8) And again David says: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.” (Ps 21:27). The prophet Jeremiah uses the title ‘King of the gentile nations’: “Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations? For this is thy due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like thee.” (Jer 10:7). This newborn babe, will be referenced by Isaiah (Is 28:16) writing “… therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: He who believes will not be in haste.’” Jesus is God, the Son of His Father, of Whom His Father is “well pleased” (Mt 3:17), and this confirmed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls Himself the Cornerstone. St. Matthew (21:42) records “Jesus said to them [about Himself], "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?”

As King both of the Chosen People and the Gentiles, Jesus will be the cornerstone uniting all. St. Paul tells the Ephesians (2: 11-14): “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, …remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility…” What better way to break down the barriers of man made divisions than to recall the words of St. Paul to the Galatians (3: 27-29): “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female [iv]; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”

Do we see the Gospel applies to all around us? Do we reflect Christ is King of all and He invites all mankind for Him to be the object of their desire? The person lowest in terms of social, economic or social stature, the person we see whom we are tempted to see as most despised, is very person the Christ-child was born for. It is just this person the Father wants to know that Jesus is His Son, the truth of which the Holy Spirit confirmed. This is an invitation to all of us, who claim to be “followers of Christ” to the heal nations and peoples, the lowliest and most infirm of mankind.

A little personal test: Is there any individual, a member of a language group, nation, race, lifestyle, handicapped, religion, sex, occupation, income, color or appearance, we love differently from the person who we can identify we love most? Love means we would desire and work toward the ‘good and welfare’ of all mankind. (This means all those mentioned above). Love means we want God indwelling in them. Love means we care and would work for their spiritual, psychological and physical welfare. In practice this means in emulation of Christ-God, we are all ‘good samaritans.’ An example relevant to the geographic region I reside, the Southwestern United States: it would make no difference whether a person comes from north or south of the United States border, if a person needs education, employment, food, health care, I would be the ‘good samaritan’: “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'” (Lk 10: 33-35). Let us all remember the next words of Jesus recorded by St. Luke (10:37): And Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." If we do not agree with these words of Jesus and practice this love, then the following words of Our Lord apply to us: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith … You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Mt 23:23, 33). This is the true meaning of the Nativity and Theophany of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, the lover and healer of mankind.

The promise of Emmanuel, that is "God with us"

Finally we can reflect on the God’s promise told to us by Isaiah the Prophet (7:14-15): “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.”

St. Matthew writing after he was called to be an apostle and enlightened by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, knowing the significance of the Theophany, knowing the true meaning of “all those things which have come to pass for us: the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the Session at the right hand, and the second and glorious Advent” [v] would write almost the exact words of Isaiah quoted above: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). (Mt 1:23). We know that the one who fulfill the promises and titles of the Old Testament is none other than God Himself. His mission is to “save his people from their sins." (Mt 1: 21). He will do this not as just as a man. He will come to us as God-man. Indeed St. Paul ends his first epistle to the Corinthians (16:22) by praying: “Our Lord, come!”

The meaning of ‘God with us’ for us

Here is a personal prayer applicable to each one of us as individuals. We ask God to ‘abide with us’. Isaiah, (33:22) told us He would be Judge, Lawgiver and King: “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our ruler, the Lord is our king; he will save us.” We know this Lord, is God, Himself. He revealed Himself to us at the Theophany. At Orthros we pray: “God is the Lord Who hath shown us light. Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.” If He is to fulfill these titles, we have a corresponding obligation. If the Christ was “born in a cavern and lay in a manger for our salvation” is our Lawgiver, we are to accept and obey His Law. If this child is King, we are to accord him obedience, submission and worship.

St. Matthew (8:17) tells us: “This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases." If He is the physician of our souls, so too, we are to be His instruments of healing ourselves and those around us. The healing ministry of the Church, the “Church as hospital” (Morelli, 2006; Vlachos, 1994, 1998) is none other than the ministry of Christ, Himself. The obligation we have to heal ourselves and those around us, is none other than doing what Christ Himself, who was revealed to us as God, by His own Father’s word and confirmed by the Holy Spirit came on earth to accomplish. Healing is our obligation and ministry.

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master;” (Mt 10:24)

[ii] Some translations such as the Challoner-Reims Version: “Hosanna in the Highest, Peace in earth to men of good will.” What is not correct is ‘good will toward men’.

[iii] Baptismal Hymn of Pascha: “As may of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia.

[iv] A proper understanding of male-female according to the Mind of the Church is critical in understanding this passage. St. Paul’s teachings: ‘no differences between male-female’ has always been understood by the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit from the day of Pentecost, to mean equality for males and females to attain holiness, sanctification and deification. Theosis is open to both sexes. God revealed Himself as: Father and Jesus as: Son. This is not of human origin, but Divine. Thus, the Father who begets is what He is because of His Son, though not in second place after Him. How does St. John of Damascus view the icon of the Theotokos, the God-bearer, the carrier and nurturer of her Son? St. John describes her image as one appropriate as the container and bearer of ‘The Word’. Thus in the mystery of God, He uses our sex differences to reveal Himself to us. This is why “Sex” is different from “Gender.” (In my view, gender differences should be eliminated, sex differences cannot be eliminated. Equal pay for equal work, secular professions are gender differences and should be open to both sexes, etc.) Gender differences are man made and socio-culturally defined. Sex differences, however, are by Divine creation and related to how God revealed Himself to mankind. Secularists want to eliminate the scientific term: sex differences. The secularist-feminist agenda considers all differences between male and female as gender differences, and thus capable of re-definition. Mary, the Theotokos, (God-bearer) is “More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim.” Mankind’s sex difference roles are, as said before, by Divine origin. For example, males are fathers, females are mothers. Christ, incarnate in the male sex is the one high priest, the male priest His is His only appropriate and allowable icon. This is unchangeable. This is the essential teaching the Holy Spirit inspired Orthodox Church has passed on to us.